Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Huey Long - The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans

117 comments:

Trump’s trip to Mexico was not only unusual for not including his traveling press corps, but also because it came against the advice of US diplomats.

The campaign’s decision to travel to a foreign country — one rife with security risks for a candidate who has stoked tensions with his rhetoric on Mexican immigrants — without reporters following close behind marks an unprecedented moment in the coverage of major party presidential nominees.

In addition, staff at the US Embassy in Mexico advised the Trump campaign against making such a hastily arranged trip, suggesting it would be logistically difficult to organize on such short notice, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

But Donald Trump is an unconventional individual, who handles an unconventional speech, behaves unconventionally and acts in unconventional manners most of the time.

Twenty-two towns in France are maintaining a ban on the burkini despite court rulings that have said mayors have no legal right to dictate what women wear on the beach.

...

The bans -- and images of armed police forcing a woman to remove part of her burkini on a beach in Nice -- have been highly divisive in a country that celebrates secularism and have fueled a debate here and abroad.

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Cannes and the town of Frejus had to suspend their bans after court rulings Tuesday.

Surely one can easily hide a hand grenade or a small bomb in a burkini....

:o)

Or in a beach towel. Or in a beach bag. Or in a cooler. Or in a beach caftan. Or in...

Bob, you are a walking stereotype. Try thinking for once.

This isn't about security. It isn't about women's rights. It's about the dumbass French trying to enforce their goofy ideas about secularism by banning symbols associated with religion as if that is going to change anyone ideas, convictions, or attitudes.

The French are morons when it comes to this stuff. And anyone who agrees with them? Well...

One year on, Angela Merkel has admitted that she made mistakes in opening Germany’s borders to what would prove to be the country’s largest peacetime influx of migrants.

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Now easily the most vulnerable she has been since becoming chancellor, she prompted a frenzy of speculation on Sunday when she refused to answer questions about standing for a fourth term in next year’s national election.

CNN and other cable news outlets have spent the week pointing to isolated polls to paint a false picture that the Presidential race is tightening, while ignoring that the overall polling averages haven’t shifted in weeks, because the increasingly non-competitive race has become rather lousy for ratings; the appearance of a horse race attracts more eyeballs. But when Donald Trump stepped up to give one of the highest profile speeches of his campaign on Thursday night, even CNN had to admit that the speech wasn’t likely to do anything to close his deficit against Hillary Clinton.

A rocket carrying an Israeli communications satellite exploded on its launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, destroying the $85 million device.

The Falcon 9, a rocket manufactured by Elon Musk's private aerospace company SpaceX, disappeared from view in an explosion felt for miles.

The Amos 6 satellite, built by Israel Aerospace Industries and owned by Spacecom Ltd., was heading into space for a 16-year mission that was meant to serve Facebook, bring Internet connectivity to Africa and television service to providers in Europe and the Middle East.

It was originally scheduled for launch in July, but this was delayed to September 3.

Cluster bombs, which have been used since World War II to kill and maim indiscriminately, were outlawed under an international treaty that was adopted in 2008.

Most of the world’s countries have signed the treaty, but not the United States and Russia, where many of the bombs were made. A report released on Thursday in Geneva found that the weapons continued to be used with near impunity in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

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Except for a single 2009 strike in Yemen, the United States has not used cluster bombs since 2003, and has not budgeted funds to acquire new cluster munitions since 2007...

[But we had no problem selling them.]

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The report’s author, the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, which provides research for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition, did find signs of improvement in the United States.

In April, activists began regular protests outside the Providence, R.I., headquarters of Textron, a maker of cluster munitions. In May, the Pentagon stopped delivering cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia. And in June, a provision to ban the transfer of such munitions to Saudi Arabia was nearly adopted by the House of Representatives, losing on a vote of 216 to 204.

This week, before the report’s release, Textron announced that it would stop making cluster munitions, noting that “the current political environment” made it hard to sell the weapons.

Mary Wareham, the advocacy director for the arms division at Human Rights Watch, who was involved in the report, cheered the decision, saying in a statement, “Textron was the last U.S. manufacturer of cluster munitions, so this decision now clears the path for the administration and Congress to work together to permanently end U.S. production, transfer and use of cluster munitions.”

Like its predecessor, however, President Obama’s administration has shown little appetite for signing the treaty, which would be politically challenging, given the climate in Washington. In December, when the United Nations General Assembly for the first time adopted a resolution expressing support for the treaty banning the weapons, the United States abstained.

[Another example of US moral leadership]

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Next week, Mr. Obama will visit Laos as part of his final trip to Asia as president. Laos is the country most heavily contaminated by cluster bombs, which the United States dropped from 1964 to 1973, during the Vietnam War. Fourteen of the country’s 17 provinces, and a quarter of its villages, are thought to be contaminated with cluster bombs from that era, as are many parts of Cambodia and Vietnam.

I just read an article recently arguing that the involvement of the larger powers (US, Russia, ect.) have prolonged the conflict and caused more death because they have not supplied sufficient power to one side to win but rather enough power to their clients so that they don't lose.

I see HRC was doubling down on her America is Exceptional argument while Trump was doubling down (well, rhetorically anyway) on his one issue - the wall.

-- Near Raqqah, a strike destroyed two ISIL tanks, an ammunitions cache and a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Manbij, six strikes engaged four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed five fighting positions, a vehicle, a weapons cache and two vehicle bombs.

-- Near Washiyah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

Bomber, fighter, ground-attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdadi, a strike produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Bashir, a strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Haditha, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed another fighting position.

-- Near Hit, four strikes engaged an ISIL vehicle bomb factory, a barracks, a headquarters building and destroyed three fighting positions.

-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system and suppressed another mortar position.

-- Near Mosul, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroying a fighting position, a command-and-control node, two mortar systems, eight rocket rails, a rocket system and a tunnel. The strike also and damaged an excavator and suppressed a mortar position.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units, destroying two fighting positions, two mortar systems, a mortar cache, two vehicles and an artillery system. The strikes also damaged another mortar system.

-- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

(this particular poll is criticized by Mr. Morrissey for this and that, but he notes the trend continues.....Hillary is sinking like a rock.....everyone wants a President that can stand up, and doesn't periodically overload the Depends)

We have no power to 'overrule' anyone who wants to try to set up a safe zone. However, it is unlikely anyone is actually capable of setting up a 'safe zone' even at Columbia or Mizzou, since the term is an oxymoron.

Likewise, we have no power to keep you from making a fool of yourself here daily. If we had that power, one or both of us would likely exercise it. However, the daily empirical evidence here would indicate that is not the case.

Newt Gingrich, whose signature is a poster for genius and mental sparkle....

....But this is about Hillary. The comparison between the two major candidates would seem to be “won” by the harder-driving, bullish Trump, over the nuanced, deceptive presentational window-display of the former Secretary of State.

Authorities remain spectacularly incurious about how this convert to Islam, and so many other converts, got the idea that his new religion commanded him to commit treason and murder.

Sebastian Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl

“FBI: Detroit suspect fantasized about deadly attacks,” by Robert Snell, The Detroit News, August 29, 2016:

“Detroit — An American Muslim who allegedly bought illegal grenades from an undercover FBI agent is an Islamic State supporter who fantasized about killing local Muslim religious leaders and a park ranger, according to federal court records unsealed Monday.

Interviews and court records, for the first time, portray Detroiter Sebastian Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, as a homegrown extremist who allegedly amassed an arsenal to carry out an attack while cheering mass killings in Paris and Orlando.

The allegations are contained in an FBI search warrant affidavit listing probable cause to search Gregerson’s home and car on July 31. Agents were looking for evidence Gregerson, 29, was providing material support to a foreign terrorist group.

FBI agents raided Gregerson’s home on the 8300 block of Schaefer Highway south of Joy Road after Gregerson allegedly bought five illegal grenades that same day from the undercover FBI agent.

The search yielded an arsenal of weapons, including seven rifles, two AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, computer equipment and cellphones, according to a sealed search warrant inventory obtained by The Detroit News.

Part of Gregerson’s arsenal included tactical knives similar to those used in videos of Islamic State extremists beheading western hostages, according to the FBI.

Agents had permission from a federal judge to dig up Gregerson’s yard and use a metal detector in hopes of finding the buried container, according to the affidavit. It’s unclear whether a container was found.

It appears agents have not found evidence indicating that Gregerson was providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He has not been charged with a terrorism-related crime, but the investigation is ongoing. And there was no specific planned attack outlined in the court records.

Instead, Gregerson, who is being held without bond, faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of unregistered possession of a destructive device and unlicensed receipt of explosive materials.

16-month FBI investigation

The affidavit further portrays Gregerson as a vocal Islamic State supporter who spoke of violence while being secretly recorded by an undercover FBI agent during a 16-month investigation.

In May, Gregerson and the undercover agent met at an area restaurant. A group of local Muslim religious leaders entered the restaurant.

“Gregerson recognized the men. He then proceeded to talk with (the agent) about committing violent acts against them. He described the scenario ‘like shooting fish in a barrel,’ ” according to the affidavit.

It is not uncommon for Islamic State extremists to talk about harming local Muslim religious leaders, said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, who has followed the case and reviewed the court filings for The News.

“Individuals drawn to (the Islamic State) don’t see prominent American Muslim religious leaders as legitimate,” he said. “They see them as sellouts.”....

I think I've mentioned before, the plan is to bring in about 130 of them just down the road a few miles in Pontiac just as soon as the housing is set up for them. There is a charity setting things up and getting them jobs.

After anti-abortion activists released hidden-camera videos last year that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials selling body parts from aborted fetuses, the organization’s opponents went into high gear, pushing state and federal officials to cut off public funds to the group and seek criminal charges. Never mind that the videos, some of which were deceptively edited, didn’t actually demonstrate that Planned Parenthood violated the federal law against fetal tissue sales. The agit-prop provided abortion opponents with enough political momentum to persuade lawmakers in at least six state capitals to bar the organization from receiving public funds for providing women’s health services.

Since then, Planned Parenthood and its allies have pushed back in the courts, in Congress and in some state capitals, where prosecutors launched investigations into whether the surreptitious filmmakers from the Center for Medical Progress violated contracts, illegally doctored government-issued IDs or ran afoul of privacy laws. But now, Planned Parenthood wants to go further. It’s supporting a bill in the California Legislature, AB 1671 by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), that would make it a crime to distribute a recording or even a transcript of a private conversation with a healthcare provider.

State law already makes it a criminal violation of privacy, punishable by up to 3 years in prison, to use an electronic device to listen in on or record people without their permission. Gomez’s bill ups the ante by making it illegal for the eavesdropper to disclose or distribute “in any manner, in any forum,” what that person heard or recorded, if the victim is any type of healthcare provider. That prohibition would apply regardless of what the heathcare provider was discussing — not just sensitive details about patients, but also private conversations about fees and billing practices, drug marketers, or plans for the weekend.

Why a healthcare provider merits special protection even when discussing things that don’t involve patient privacy is mystifying. Worse, the original version of the bill pushed by Planned Parenthood would have allowed prosecutors to target not just those who made the recordings, but those who shared them online, reported on them or published the transcripts...

The proposal had civil libertarians, news organizations and filmmakers in an uproar, and rightly so. Even if you decry the Center for Medical Progress’ work, the version of AB 1671 that reached the Senate floor could have criminalized sharing or reporting on legitimate, valuable and even potentially life-saving undercover video work.

Proponents of the bill finally agreed Tuesday to amend it to clarify that only those who actively participated in making the illegal recording could be prosecuted or sued for helping distribute it.

But make no mistake, this measure would heap more criminal and civil penalties on making a secret recording — an act that’s already prohibited by state law, even when done in the public interest — simply to satisfy an interest group popular among Sacramento Democrats. In fact, it would further disincentivize potential whistleblowers from recording malfeasance when they witness it — for example, a patient who sees her doctor handing out opioid prescriptions like candy, or a farm worker who catches a veterinarian approving a sick cow for the slaughterhouse. The potential for unanticipated and unwelcome consequences is huge.

Quirk mocks me the same way, always flailing his arms about, in his case like the fool he is -

Quirk even uses, proudly, a logo of a fool these days....

Media Invented Lie About Trump Mocking Disabled Reporter

The video evidence that demolishes the Washington Post's most successful lie about Trump.

September 1, 2016

Ann Coulter

Just when you think the media could not possibly become more loathsome, the Fourth Estate bullies prove you wrong again. The Washington Post's latest ugliness was to exploit the disability of a newspaper reporter in order to smear the Republican nominee for president. Then -- and this is the least surprising part of the story -- the Post lied about it.

Other than the subject of that paragraph -- which I slyly switched from Trump to the media -- that is an exact paraphrase of the Post's opening lines from an editorial hawking the media's most successful lie about Donald Trump: that he mocked a man for being disabled.

I have a chapter on that lie in my new book, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!, It was perfectly obvious that Trump was not mimicking any disability that Serge has, but I didn't have the smoking gun to prove that the media were lying and knew they were lying. Now we have it.

A group called Catholics 4 Trump has posted a video clip of another part of that same speech, in which Trump imitates a flustered general. Guess what? He does the exact same arm flailing.

In another speech, Trump pretended to be a timorous Ted Cruz. Again, he does the exact same arm flailing. You can see the videos here: www.catholics4trump.com/the-true-story-donald-trump-did-not-mock-a-reporters-disability

Neither the general nor Cruz is disabled.

If a jury ever saw these videos, it would acquit Trump immediately. Trump's impression of a groveling reporter is just like his imitation of a groveling general and just like his imitation of a groveling U.S. senator. He's like Rich Little that way: All his impressions look the same.

Perhaps Trump is not a subtle actor, but he's utterly innocent of making fun of a disabled person.

Now consider the media's role in manufacturing, and then protecting, this lie. Reporters were at Trump's speech. They were filming it. They saw him do the identical imitation of a general during that same speech.

The media knew damn well that Trump does the arm-waving routine whenever he's pretending to be a flustered person. But they never allowed the public to see the clip of Trump doing the same imitation of a general.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.